Part 4
In Europe the favourite haunts of the wolf are wild and retired situations both in the plains and mountains; during spring and summer wolves go about for the most part singly or in pairs, but in winter they collect in parties or large packs, and when driven to desperation by hunger are the terror of the peasantry or the traveller, not only in Russia but even in some districts of France and Germany.
The food of the wolf includes all animals that it can capture and overpower, as well as carrion, and even vegetable substances. Large game and domesticated animals form its chief victims, but in cases of necessity, rats, mice, frogs, and even cockchafers are not disdained. In pursuit of their prey wolves are practically untiring. The female gives birth during the spring, in some sequestered situation in the forest, to from three to nine cubs, which she nurses and tends with wonderful affection and care.
THE WILD CAT
(_Felis catus_)
Savage as a wild cat is a proverbial expression; and although in attitudes of repose, like the one selected for the coloured Plate, the ferocity of look may temporarily disappear, there are few animals fiercer or more bloodthirsty than _Felis catus_. Indeed, a wild cat brought to bay or caught in a trap is a perfect fiend incarnate.
The wild cat and the lynx are the only feline Carnivora indigenous at the present day to central and northern Europe; and of these two the lynx has long since disappeared from the British Isles, and has become very scarce throughout the greater part of the Continent, but is still common in Scandinavia and Russia. The wild cat, on the other hand, survives in most European countries, and is far from uncommon in the Alps and many parts of France and Germany, although in Great Britain its sole remaining refuges are among the highlands of Scotland, and even there it has been suggested that many of the so-called wild cats are hybrids, or domesticated cats run wild. Eastward, the range of the wild cat extends at least as far as the Altai, where its representative has a larger and more woolly coat than the typical western race.
In Africa the place of the European wild cat is taken by a closely allied but somewhat less strongly striped species known as _Felis ocreata_, of which the northern race was protected and held sacred by the ancient Egyptians in Bubastis and other cities. That the European and the African wild cats have given rise to the domesticated cats of the greater part of the Old World may be considered certain, although there is some difference of opinion as to the respective shares taken by the two wild species in the production of the tame breeds. Among the ordinary house-cats of western Europe, the type coming nearest to the wild ancestor is the one with black transverse stripes on a grey ground. The true tabby, on the other hand, that is to say the type in which the dark markings take the form of broad longitudinal or obliquely longitudinal bands arrayed in a ring-like or spiral manner on the flanks, is unlike either of the two wild cats, and it has been suggested that it may have had a totally distinct ancestry.
By choice the wild cat, which for most of the year lives alone, frequents large, thick, and sequestered pine-forests, where it selects rocky situations as affording the best hiding-places. In addition to clefts in the rocks, it chooses, however, for its lair the burrows of the fox or the badger, or holes in large tree-trunks, while it will sometimes make its abode in thick bushes.
In regard to food, the wild cat preys chiefly upon rats, mice, and small birds, but it also kills larger animals, such as pheasants, hares, rabbits, and squirrels, while it occasionally ventures to attack the fawns of roe-deer and red deer, springing on their backs, and tearing open the arteries of the neck. There is an old monkish Latin line that “_catus amat pisces, sed non vult tingere plantas_” (the cat loves fish, but does not like to wet its feet); but this applies only to the domesticated breed, for when dwelling near streams or lakes the wild cat will capture both fishes and water-fowl. Like many other animals, it will often kill more than it can devour, as if from the very love of slaughter.
The male and female live together only during the pairing-season, and while the kittens are unable to look after themselves. At other times each individual has its own particular haunt, from which, however, it makes long excursions into the surrounding forest or the neighbouring plains; such foraging expeditions often lasting for days together. In winter it frequently deserts the forest to take up its abode in old uninhabited buildings or other safe places of refuge.
In some sheltered situation the female gives birth in spring to five or six kittens, very similar to those of domesticated cats, and likewise born blind.
When captured, wild cats, whether old or young, are impossible to tame; and it is for this reason that the species is so seldom seen in menageries. As already mentioned, it has been suggested that many of the cats found wild in Scotland are hybrids between the wild species and the tame breed, but there is no evidence that such interbreeding takes place; and such of these animals as are not true wild cats seem to be individuals of the domesticated breed which have reverted to the wild state, and have thereby assumed to some extent the characters of the ancestral type.
THE RED KANGAROO
(_Macropus rufus_)
Little wonder that when Captain Cook and his companions first beheld kangaroos bounding over the plains of Australia they were overwhelmed with astonishment, and regarded them as the most extraordinary animals in the world. They are, indeed, unlike any other creatures, and form the supreme development of the terrestrial and herbivorous section of the marsupial type, being admirably adapted to their environment, and occupying in Australia the place held in other countries by cattle, sheep, antelopes, deer, and hares. For there are kangaroos of all sizes, ranging from the gigantic species, with its 6 foot stature, forming the subject of the present notice, down to the diminutive kangaroo-rats, no larger than rabbits.
That kangaroos, like all marsupials, bring forth their young in an exceedingly imperfect and helpless condition, it is almost unnecessary to mention; as is the fact that the females carry them in the pouch not only till they are able to take care of themselves, but, on occasion, till a much later period. Not that it is to be assumed from this that the young of all marsupials are carried in the maternal pouch; this being in some cases undeveloped, and the offspring in such instances merely clinging for a time to their mothers’ nipples.
For a long time it was generally considered that marsupials were survivors of the ancestral stock which gave rise to the ordinary, and so-called placental, mammals; but this is now known to be a mistaken view, and marsupials and placentals are evidently divergent branches from a common ancestral stock. In Australia marsupials have developed almost as many different modifications as have the placentals in other parts of the world; and at first sight there seem few external characters in common to such diverse types as the leaping, bipedal, herbivorous kangaroo, and the cursorial and carnivorous Tasmanian wolf. When, however, the two animals are observed more closely, we may note a curious resemblance in the form of their heads, and, above all, by the great, thick tail, passing almost imperceptibly into the body; both these features proclaiming their comparatively near relationship and descent from a common ancestor.
Among the external characteristics of the kangaroo tribe may be noted the somewhat deer-like head, the short fore-limbs, each armed with five toes, and used in progression only when the animal is grazing, and the enormous length and strength of the hind-legs, in which one toe is greatly developed at the expense of the rest, and serves not only to aid in progression, but forms an offensive weapon of great power and effectiveness. In the sitting posture, as represented in the illustration, the body is supported on a tripod formed by the massive tail and the hind-legs; the whole of the lower portion of the latter, corresponding structurally to the human foot, being then applied to the ground. When, however, the animal is leaping, as shown in the background of the picture, the hind part of the foot is raised and the body supported by the toes; the tail thumping on the ground at each leap.
Kangaroos subsist chiefly on grass and leaves, but also eat buds, bark, roots, and fruits. Originally they were to be found all over the habitable parts of Australia and Tasmania, from the coasts inwards, and while most kinds inhabited the plains, others were to be found in the mountains. Nowadays, however, they have for the most part been driven back into the uncultivated lands of the interior, and their numbers have been greatly reduced. All the larger species associate in large bands. True kangaroos of the genus _Macropus_ are also found in New Guinea, while a few of the smaller kinds are natives of the eastern Austro-Malay Islands.
The great red kangaroo, the subject of the illustration, is the largest member of the whole group, and takes its name from the dark rusty red colour of the soft woolly hair of the adult males, that of the females being a delicate bluish grey. Its home is in the rocky districts of South and East Australia.
As this species is kept in most Zoological Gardens, opportunities have been afforded of observing the newly born young. These come into the world after a gestation of only thirty-nine days, when they are only about an inch and a quarter in length, and little more than shapeless lumps of animation. The newborn young is immediately transferred by the mother, by means of her lips, to the pouch, where it is attached by its sucking mouth to a nipple. Here it remains for eight months, after which it returns to the shelter of the pouch, when so disposed, for a considerable time longer: a fresh offspring being often in the pouch at the same time.
THE BLUE ROLLER
(_Coracias garrulus_)
Among the birds of brilliant plumage which occasionally straggle to the British Isles, one of the most gaudy is the blue roller, so called on account of its roling, or “rolling,” flight. In India this and an allied species are commonly called the blue jay, while in Poland the present bird is locally termed the Polish parrot. The roller has, however, nothing to do with either jays or parrots, but is more nearly related to the king-fishers.
Although the blue roller is practically an unmistakable bird--certainly so far as British species are concerned--it may be well to mention that the head, neck, wing-coverts, and under-parts are bright greenish blue, the back and shoulders cinnamon-brown, the flight-feathers blue at the roots and elsewhere black above and wholly deep blue beneath, the upper tail-coverts deep ultramarine, while the two middle tail-feathers are dirty brown, and the other feathers of the tail sky-blue, with the tips of the outer pair, which are somewhat lengthened, black. In size the bird is rather smaller than a crow.
The normal summer range of the species includes central and southern Europe, and thence extends through central Asia to Kashmir; while in winter it embraces India and the greater part of Africa. Northwards this bird is found as far as Scandinavia, although only occasionally; but its chief haunts in Europe are Spain, Portugal, Greece, Poland, and southern Russia. It makes its annual appearance in Europe towards the end of April, and takes its departure, like the cuckoo, not later than August. In Asia Minor, Persia, Baluchistan, India, and Ceylon it is replaced, except in winter (when both are found together), by the closely allied _Coracias indicus_. A third species extends from the eastern Himalaya through Burma to Cochin China and Siam, a fourth inhabits Celebes, and quite a number are indigenous to Africa. In Australasia and the New World these birds are unknown.
Avoiding swampy localities and high mountains, the roller resorts to dry open districts with thin forest in which birch abounds, and where hollow oaks or beech are to be found. Here it prefers to dwell at the edge of the forest, where isolated trees grow in the fields and by the roadsides, and command a wide view of the country. In harvest-time it repairs to the sheaves in the cornfields.
The bird is, however, largely insectivorous, and from its perch in some tall tree sallies forth in search of all kinds of insects and other invertebrates as well as young frogs, while it will also eat field-mice. In their season figs afford it a much appreciated feast.
In habits the roller is shy and unsociable, going about in pairs, and generally, but not always, shunning the vicinity of human habitations. Its flight is swift and undulating, and often limited to the passage from one tree-top to another. In fine weather, however, it indulges in the habit of tumbling when on the wing, and performs all kinds of aerial evolutions, sometimes falling from a considerable height almost to the ground; this last performance generally taking place during the pairing-season. At that season, when the males are in the company of the females, the former rise into the air with their characteristic harsh cry of “rak, rak, rak,” and descend again with a rapidly repeated “rak, rak, rak.” When at rest, the cry is a high-pitched, frequently repeated “raker, raker, raker.” It is from these cries that the bird derives its specified name, and likewise its German title of _blaurake_.
In many parts of Europe the nest is built in the hole of a tree, but in the south is more generally placed in ruins, under the roofs of houses, in clefts in walls, or on cliffs and steep banks, in which deep holes are excavated for its reception. At the proper season it contains from five to six white eggs, which are brooded in turn by the male and female, and this so assiduously that it is often easy to capture the sitting bird with the hands. In laying white eggs, the roller conforms to the general rule of birds which nest in holes. It is, moreover, an uncleanly bird, and when the nest has contained young for some time, it gives out a most disgusting smell, while the young themselves sit in a mass of filth. Strange that such a beautiful bird should have such dirty habits!
As regards its mental powers, the roller is evidently highly developed; but its inherent shyness renders it unsuitable as a cage-bird. In disposition it is, as already mentioned, unsociable, and it will frequently quarrel with other birds and its own fellows. On the other hand, several pairs often nest near together, and its migrations are made in large companies.
THE BITTERN
(_Botaurus stellaris_)
Before drainage and cultivation had driven away so many of the marsh-haunting birds, the boom of the bittern was a familiar sound to the dwellers in the fens of Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire, and this handsome bird regularly nested not only in those districts, but in the Norfolk Broads, as well as in many other counties possessing situations suitable to its habits. Indeed nests were taken now and then up to the middle of last century, and even later; but at the present day the bittern is nothing more than a casual visitor to the British Islands, in fact, so rare have its visits become, that they are generally considered worthy of special record.
A near relative of the heron, the bittern does not expose itself in the open after the fashion of that species, but skulks amid the shelter of reeds and flags, where its presence is made known only by the ordinary raven-like croak, or the loud booming of the male in the breeding-season. From this habit the bittern derives its German name of _rohrdommel_; and with such surroundings its mottled plumage of light and dark brown mingled with black is designed to harmonise, as is also in all probability the greenish hue of its long, spear-like beak, so admirably adapted to seize and hold the unwary fish or frog that may come within striking distance.
As this resemblance between the plumage of the bittern and its inanimate surroundings is sufficiently apparent from the accompanying Plate, it will be unnecessary to attempt any description of its colouring. It is, however, important to mention that the bird appears to be in the habit of increasing the protective power of its mottled livery, by assuming, probably under the influence of alarm, a statuesque position amid the reeds, with the body held as erect as possible, the neck stretched to its fullest extent, and the head and beak pointing skywards. In this posture it is stated, by those who have had the good fortune to see it, to be almost invisible amid the upright brown stems of reeds and bulrushes.
The range of the bittern is very extensive, including the whole of temperate Europe, northern Africa, and the greater portion of Asia lying between the Himalaya and the Arctic Circle, as well as north-western India and Burma. In South Africa its place is taken by another species, a third kind inhabits Australia, New Caledonia, and New Zealand, while a fourth is a native of North and Central America, and a fifth is indigenous to tropical South America. The distribution of the group is thus almost cosmopolitan, if we except most of the tropical zone of the Old World; and all the five species are closely related.
In Europe at the present day bitterns are still common in Spain, Holland, many parts of France and Germany, and the swamps of the Danube and Volga. It should be added that in Africa, India, and Burma the species occurs only in winter, being to some extent migratory in its habits.
These shy birds associate in pairs, but in migration time collect in parties previous to setting out on their travels. The nest, which is built of reeds and flags, and lined with grass, is well concealed among the brake in which the pair have taken up their residence, and may be a floating structure. The eggs, which are from three to five in number and greenish blue in colour, are incubated solely by the hen, who is supplied with food by her mate. The chicks remain in the nest until fully fledged, and display extraordinary cleverness in making their way among the reeds.
Little comes amiss to the bittern in the way of food, so long as it is of an animal nature; and its appetite is so great, that it is on the hunt for prey from sunrise till sunset. Water-rats, field-mice, birds of all kinds, fish, especially those inhabiting muddy water, snakes, lizards, leeches, worms, and insects and their larvæ are alike devoured by these voracious birds.
The usual cry of the bittern is, as already mentioned, a hoarse, raven-like croak; and it is only during the breeding-season that the male utters the resounding boom, which has been compared to the bellowing of a bull, and on a still night may be heard at a distance of a mile or more. How this wonderful sound is produced is not yet definitely known.
A wounded bittern is most dangerous to approach, as it will strike with unerring aim at the eye of the gunner who approaches to seize it; and the formidable beak is likewise employed, and generally with success, to repel the attack of any fox bold enough to approach its owner.
It should be added that during the hot summer of 1911 a pair of bitterns bred in the old Norfolk haunts of the species.
THE KAFIR CROWNED CRANE
(_Balearica chrysopelargus_)
The crowned cranes of Africa, of which there are three species, constituting by themselves an exclusively African genus, are some of the handsomest members of a beautiful and stately group of birds; the fan-like array of bristly feathers on the head, which constitutes the so-called “crown,” conferring on these cranes a regal appearance which is lacking in their smooth-headed relatives.
Of the three species, one (_Balearica pavonina_) is a native of north-eastern Africa, ranging southwards into West and Equatorial Africa; the second, forming the subject of the accompanying Plate and sometimes known as _B. regulorum_ instead of by the designation here used, is a southern bird, ranging from the Cape to the Zambesi and Loanza valleys; while the third (_B. gibbericeps_) hails from East Africa.
As regards the distinctive features of these three cranes, the northern species is greenish black above and dark grey below, with most of the feathers of the sharply pointed lanceolate type; the neck is delicate pearl-grey; the secondary quills are chestnut, and the wing-coverts partly white and yellow; the twisted bristly feathers forming the crown are yellow and white with black tips; a bare area on each side of the face is white above and pink below; and black down clothes the throat. This species has a very small wattle on the throat; but in the Kafir crane this wattle, as shown in the Plate, is much larger and mainly red in colour. The southern species is further characterised by the greyer tone of the plumage of the upper-parts, and the white cheek-patch, with only a margin of crimson above. In the East African _B. gibbericeps_ this cheek-patch becomes much larger than in either of the other two species, extending backwards nearly to the nape of the neck.
The carriage of these handsome, well-built birds is upright; while their gait, when they are walking with measured steps, is calm and stately. These birds can, however, run with great speed, so fast indeed that a man can keep up with them only with difficulty. The flight is heavy and slow, with powerful, measured strokes of the wings, and the neck and legs stretched out. The crest, or crown, is at the same time depressed. When in flight, a party of cranes always arrange themselves in wedge-shaped form in order to cleave their passage through the air with the least possible resistance; a very powerful bird taking up the position at the apex of the triangle. As in all cranes, the cry is very loud and resounding; its piercing, trumpet-like notes being due to the complicated structure of the windpipe, which is arranged in coils, and consists of more than three hundred bony rings.
The food of these cranes consists chiefly of various kinds of grain and other seeds, among which those of durrha or Kafir millet form the largest portion. The seed-spikes of grass, buds of trees, and fruits, as well as a certain proportion of insects, are, however, also devoured by these birds.
Very curious are the attitudes assumed by these handsome birds, especially when they are surprised or under the influence of excitement. On such occasions they place themselves in wonderful postures, bending their bodies up and down, spreading out their wings, and then joining their fellows in a dance, during which they often spring a yard high in the air, while all the time their feet are alternately lifted and put down in regular rhythm.
The daily life of the crowned crane displays great uniformity. At sunrise the whole flock flies out into the veldt, where its members search for food at least a couple of hours; then they proceed to the water to drink, and spend the day in digesting their morning’s meal. Their favourite resort for the day is a sandbank far out in a river, where they can stand and preen their feathers or doze without fear of interruption. At evening the flock returns to its sleeping-quarters in the forest.